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Jul 1, 2011
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are you aware of the statement by the taliban? >> i am, sir. is the president's announcement of this winstrol make your job -- if confirmed, i assure you will be -- harder, more difficult and challenging or easier? >> senator, that is a difficult question to answer. >> i'm sure it is. that's why i asked it. >> not been confirmed yet or being the commander, have no ability to access with great accuracy of this particular moment. as the chairman said, the announced decision was a bit more aggressive than we had anticipated that he supported the decision congenital petraeus supports the decision and is working now to begin the implementation of the decision and we anticipated the forces would be coming out and there's a lot that has to happen between now and the end of this year and the end of the purpose of the drawdown. >> i appreciate that and i appreciate your answer. >> i talked to probably 20 retired and active-duty military leaders since the president's announcement made to the challenges are enormous the question is whether we will still b
are you aware of the statement by the taliban? >> i am, sir. is the president's announcement of this winstrol make your job -- if confirmed, i assure you will be -- harder, more difficult and challenging or easier? >> senator, that is a difficult question to answer. >> i'm sure it is. that's why i asked it. >> not been confirmed yet or being the commander, have no ability to access with great accuracy of this particular moment. as the chairman said, the announced...
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Jul 7, 2011
07/11
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there is an incentive on the taliban to a join a political process because taliban mid level and high level leaders are being killed in ever larger numbers and what you see now is in some sense lowering morales of the taliban within afghanistan because they're brave mid-level and high level leaders are cowering over the border in pakistan. that is what has happened and we keep that pressure. of course we need to work with the afghan citizens of long-term capability that the afghans can go on dealing with an insurgency if it is still continuing even in a minor way into the future along the lines he suggested. the taliban are under huge pressure because of the surge and the effectiveness of operations in which we are engaged. >> frank white. >> in afghanistan, we will not drawdown on the people who get diplomatic -- in the country. >> it is hugely important we secure those who work in our embassy. are had the fortune of meeting many people in the kabul embassy, one of the biggest embassies in the world. they have to make huge compromises to work out in such a difficult location and secu
there is an incentive on the taliban to a join a political process because taliban mid level and high level leaders are being killed in ever larger numbers and what you see now is in some sense lowering morales of the taliban within afghanistan because they're brave mid-level and high level leaders are cowering over the border in pakistan. that is what has happened and we keep that pressure. of course we need to work with the afghan citizens of long-term capability that the afghans can go on...
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Jul 27, 2011
07/11
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not only are we trying to fund our own needs, i guess we're funding the taliban's needs, too. i was wondering if you could comment on that and how -- what your thoughts are about lowering the risk involved with our reliance on contractor support and the money trail that goes along with it. >> yeah, thanks, senator. i saw the same report in the media. i haven't yet had time to get the gi report and see the details. i share that thought. having approximately $5 billion a year to build the iraqi security forces, it was among my gravest concerns. i had a concern about building them, i had a concern about enabling them, integrating them with our forces, but there wasn't a day went by that i didn't worry about where the money was going because it's a very opaque culture in which we deal in iraq and afghanistan. now, what we've done, we've increased the number of contractors. we formed contract in demand. i'm speaking for the army but i know the other services are doing this as well. in the captain's career courses, they're taught contract oversight. i probably should have mentioned
not only are we trying to fund our own needs, i guess we're funding the taliban's needs, too. i was wondering if you could comment on that and how -- what your thoughts are about lowering the risk involved with our reliance on contractor support and the money trail that goes along with it. >> yeah, thanks, senator. i saw the same report in the media. i haven't yet had time to get the gi report and see the details. i share that thought. having approximately $5 billion a year to build the...
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Jul 5, 2011
07/11
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only the core group process, but reconciliation in general, reports of united states meetings with taliban officials? and, also, what pakistan can bring to the table. pakistan has talked frequently about needing to have a seat at the table. what do you bring to the table? the americans have said you need to, you need to, um, either sever your relationship, for example, with the haqqani network or bring them into this, into this process. what can pakistan do in order to make this process work better? >> first of all, we support a reconciliation in afghanistan because we understand that wars, essentially, always end through some kind of reconciliation and talks anyway. so the reconciliation process in afghanistan has to be led by the afghans. it's their country. and to bring to an end the internal conflict in afghanistan that started after the departure of the soviets way back, '89 the soviets went, their clients in kabul continued to hold on until after 1992 there was the famous civil war which then brought the taliban to power. so we do not want in any way to intervene in the internal afgh
only the core group process, but reconciliation in general, reports of united states meetings with taliban officials? and, also, what pakistan can bring to the table. pakistan has talked frequently about needing to have a seat at the table. what do you bring to the table? the americans have said you need to, you need to, um, either sever your relationship, for example, with the haqqani network or bring them into this, into this process. what can pakistan do in order to make this process work...
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Jul 1, 2011
07/11
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economy, more resilient, constitutional, stable government that is capable of withstanding the radical taliban and other elements. one of my questions, madam chair, is going to be questioning the sustainability of the efforts. congress has appropriated over $60 billion for relief and reconstruction in afghanistan. the great majority of which has been channeled through private contractors. we know from experience in bosnia in the 1990's and more recently in iraq that a reduction in troop levels as not mean a drop in contractor activity. in some cases, it is a matter of increase. there has been increase reliance on contractors to fulfill the logistical roles once performed by the military in those instances. eventually, the contractor presence will also decrease as we move support of large-scale off-budget scanned it -- spending to more direct to the afghan government directly. this is why our reconstruction strategy must focus on insuring that afghans can sustain what we have helped build. how many additional schools and health, as we can construct, but also that there are teachers and health c
economy, more resilient, constitutional, stable government that is capable of withstanding the radical taliban and other elements. one of my questions, madam chair, is going to be questioning the sustainability of the efforts. congress has appropriated over $60 billion for relief and reconstruction in afghanistan. the great majority of which has been channeled through private contractors. we know from experience in bosnia in the 1990's and more recently in iraq that a reduction in troop levels...
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Jul 15, 2011
07/11
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-- the oppression of the taliban on women and girls in afghanistan and she has since then focused on women's and girls issues related to the challenges in afghanistan. so it wasn't something that she intended to focus on when she went to the white house in 2001, but certainly the course of history changed all of that, and she has really immersed herself in finding a way to make a difference in women's and girls lives around the world, and she's taken the opportunity to speak all around the world to issues important to her and to the community. >> noriel rodriguez, i noticed at the nurenl palm desert, california that both ross lynn carter and cokie roberts talked about kind of the sisterhood of first ladies and all the first ladies that showed up and barbra bush will be there in grand rapids today. is there an informal sisterhood of some type among first ladies? >> i think there is. it's really a very small club. there atlanta many people who have the opportunity to serve as first lady, and betty ford and ross lynn carter became very close friends. betty ford was very helpful to rozz
-- the oppression of the taliban on women and girls in afghanistan and she has since then focused on women's and girls issues related to the challenges in afghanistan. so it wasn't something that she intended to focus on when she went to the white house in 2001, but certainly the course of history changed all of that, and she has really immersed herself in finding a way to make a difference in women's and girls lives around the world, and she's taken the opportunity to speak all around the...
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Jul 22, 2011
07/11
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that's history for the the taliban as is for any iraqi insurgency grew. so i think they now have an internal sort of safe haven. a lot of our folks, but i like to think sometimes there are areas that have no violence. that doesn't mean al qaeda doesn't control, they control so thoroughly that there is no violence. so i think we need to look at some of the other provinces, there is an absence of violence. it doesn't mean violence is absent, if you will. i think that everything they really need right now to plan, to fund anti-recruit. the internet makes it easy for them to influence which they have done repeatedly. >> so you would say whether it's comparing out of six months ago or even a year ago, you would say that aqap's capacity to launch an attack, a strike on our homeland has been enhanced as opposed to the greatest? >> their capacity to do so has been increased. we, of course, have responded to the various attacks and more preventive measures and in some cases going after them. but with an embassy that is on lockdown, on reduced many, we are not comp
that's history for the the taliban as is for any iraqi insurgency grew. so i think they now have an internal sort of safe haven. a lot of our folks, but i like to think sometimes there are areas that have no violence. that doesn't mean al qaeda doesn't control, they control so thoroughly that there is no violence. so i think we need to look at some of the other provinces, there is an absence of violence. it doesn't mean violence is absent, if you will. i think that everything they really need...
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Jul 13, 2011
07/11
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proudly of the progress our troops have made -- afghan communities now free from the terror of the taliban and afghan forces that are taking more responsibility for their security. and he carries with him the memories of americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice to make this progress possible. earlier in the oval office, leroy gave me the extraordinary privilege of showing me the small plaque that is bolted to his prosthetic arm. on it are the names of the fallen rangers from the 75th regiment. they are, quite literally, part of him, just as they will always be part of america. one of those names is of the ranger who did not come back from the raid that day -- specialist christopher gathercole. christopher's brother and sister and grandmother are here with us today. i would ask that they stand briefly so that we can show our gratitude for their family's profound sacrifice. our heroes are all around us. they're the force behind the force -- military spouses like ashley, who during leroy's many deployments, during missed birthdays and holidays, has kept this family army strong. so we're
proudly of the progress our troops have made -- afghan communities now free from the terror of the taliban and afghan forces that are taking more responsibility for their security. and he carries with him the memories of americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice to make this progress possible. earlier in the oval office, leroy gave me the extraordinary privilege of showing me the small plaque that is bolted to his prosthetic arm. on it are the names of the fallen rangers from the 75th...